THE CAINE MUTINY is complex in such a beautifully simple way. 

I really enjoyed THE CAINE MUTINY. Can’t overstate how good it was. A taut thriller combined with a genuine moral conundrum combined with a great coming of age story. The best part of the book was how it was genuinely ambiguous on the issue of whether Captain Queeg deserved to be relieved of command. One minute it has you thinking he is nuts. The next you think he was just a bit strict. Even after the mutiny is done and all the facts are in, the book will have you reevaluating events you actually saw! It’s an amazing performance. So delicately handled. 

But the second best part of the book is Ensign Willie Keith’s coming of age. I did get a little tired of his back and forth about whether to marry his girlfriend, but by the end I started to be genuinely moved by his confusion and his struggling towards the truth. I could see exactly why he didn’t want to be with her: she does come off a bit vulgar. But I could also see that she was a special person. And the book, again, twists you one way and then another on the question of whether they should be together. I loved it. Rarely is a book so complex in such a simple way. 

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